This week I’ll cover Ozzie Guillen biggest nemesis, his mouth, Bobby Petrino being fired from Arkansas, the struggling Miami Heat, Hornets being sold to Saints owner Tom Benson, how the NHL are handing out suspensions or lack there of, and as always, my highlight and lowlight of the week.

Top Story: Ozzie Needs to Think Before He Speaks

Even though he’s won one World Series with the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen is probably more known for his mouth than his managerial skills. He’s the media’s dream, a guy who doesn’t think before he speaks. A man who has no filter. A guaranteed good sound byte. His mouth has made him one of the most notorious and popular managers in baseball. It’s why the Miami Marlins hired him in the first place. The Marlins wanted him to be the face of a franchise that has a heavy Latino population. But that mouth of his has gotten him in hot water over his comments about Fidel Castro, where he praised the Cuban Dictator for his longevity. Obviously his comments came with an epic public backlash from the media and more importantly, the Cuban-American population, and the Miami organization had to quickly get into damage control and ended up suspending Guillen for 5 games. Now I don’t believe that Ozzie should have been fired for his comments, but I do believe he should of been punished with a longer suspension. 5 games in baseball is nothing. It would’ve been more appropriate to suspend Guillen for at least 20 games. People are going the throw Free Speech excuse and that Guillen shouldn’t be punished at all, but just because you can say what ever you want in America doesn’t mean you should. I believed Ozzie’s apology was genuine, but he’s need to know that if he’s says anything that causes this kind of public uproar again, it may be the last as the Marlins’ manager.

Dumbass of the Week: Bobby Petrino

Now while I disagreed with the Miami Marlins’ length of Ozzie Guillen’s suspension, I completely agree with Arkansas’ decision to fire Bobby Petrino. After getting involved in a motorcycle accident, he lied to his employer, claiming that he alone was on the motorcycle, but came clean before the police report confirmed that he had a female passenger with him. This started a domino effect of problems for the now former head football coach of Arkansas. It was soon revealed that 25 year old Jessica Dorrell, the female passenger, was his mistress and employed with Arkansas as a Student-Athlete Development Coordinator, a job that Bobby Petrino had a hand of getting her. And this is why Arkansas had no choice and had to fire Petrino. Dorrell was one of 159 candidates for the job, and I’m not saying she isn’t qualified for the job, but it must help when you’re sleeping with the head football coach. That may lead 158 rejected and pissed off candidates to lawyer up and take action at the university for the reasons behind her hiring. If Petrino wanted to keep the affair a secret, then he probably shouldn’t have used a university-issued cellphone to exchange over 4,300 texts and 300 phone calls with his mistress, because those records were obtained due to the Freedom of Information Act. What an act of stupidity and arrogance. Therefore, he’s my dumbass of the week. Congrats Bobby.

Miami Heat’s Struggles: Blip or Trend?

After starting 27-7 before the all-star break, the Miami Heat have only gone 15-10 since then. Their biggest issue seems to be playing on the road, going 5-8 since the all-star break. One immediate concern for the Heat is the center position, as they’ve been tweaking that spot, going between Joel Anthony, Ronny Turiaf, and most recently Udonis Haslem as their starting center. As of right now, Haslem will remain the starter, which I don’t believe is the right move. Joel Anthony is not a scorer and that’s why he should remain a starter, because obviously the scoring will rotate around the Big Three, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh. Anthony has proven to be a decent shot blocker and defender. Haslem is best suited as a sixth man, because he can also score when given the opportunity and takes less pressure off the Miami offense when a couple of the Big Three are sitting on the bench. The Heat still don’t have much of a half court offense. We all know Miami is at their best when on the run, but teams like the Bulls, Celtics, and potentially the Spurs aren’t going to let that happen. They’re 1-2 against Boston and Chicago, which means they’ll most likely run into one if not both in the playoffs. With Boston, the Heat have the luxury of having home court advantage against them. The same can’t be said for the Bulls, since it looks like they will end up the home court advantage for the entire playoffs. Let’s hope the Heat can get passed their recent poor road record, because if they don’t win the Championship this year, something’s going to change, whether it be a new head coach or the implosion of the Big Three.

Tom Benson Buys the Hornets for $338 Million

Well there goes my dream of seeing the New Orleans Hornets win the NBA Lottery with David Stern as their Owner. Tom Benson stepped up and bought the Hornets for $338 million, not Los Angeles Dodgers money, but still a decent chunk of change. Being the New Orleans Saints owner, it seemed like the best possible solution for the Hornets and New Orleans, putting away any possibility of them moving to Seattle. The first thing the Benson wants to do is change the name of the team. It’s too bad they can’t get Jazz back from Utah. I can only assume that they’re going with a Mardi Gras theme when it comes to their name and colors. The other good thing about this move is that David Stern no longer owns the team and no longer has to be in the middle of trade disputes like the one involving Chris Paul going to the Lakers. However, I can’t help but ask is how Benson can come up with $338 million to buy the Hornets, but still can’t come up with a long term deal for Saints quarterback Drew Brees? Just saying.

NHL Needs to Follow the NFL When It Comes to Player Safety

Now both of these shots were cheap and dirty. But only one of these resulted in a suspension, which is a complete joke. NHL senior vice president of player safety and hockey operations Brendan Shanahan decided to suspend Vancouver Canuck Byron Bitz two games for his boarding shot to Kyle Clifford. Meanwhile, Nashville defensive men Shea Weber only got a $2,500 fine for his pro wrestling move against Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg. According to NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement, the $2,500 fine is the maximum fine handed down, which is a joke by itself. The main reason Bitz got the two game suspension is due to the fact that Clifford suffered an injury on the play while Zetterberg didn’t. The NHL can’t determine suspensions on the outcome. They need to determine them on the intent. In my opinion, Bitz made the dirtier move. Like I said before, that move should only be used in the WWE, not the NHL. And I didn’t even mention the punch he threw before slamming Zetterberg head against the window. Not only should the NHL come up with a more consistent way of punishing these players for these hits, but they should look into toning down the fighting in general. Just look at last night’s game between the Penguins and the Flyers. 158 penalty minutes, numerous ejections, and to top it all off the face of Penguins’ franchise and the NHL, Sidney Crosby, getting involved in a fist fight. After missing the majority of the past couple seasons due to concussions, I don’t think it’s very wise for the NHL to allow him to take anymore blows to the head. Shanahan and the NHL need to do something about this, because it’s just getting ridiculous.

Highlight of the Week

Was going to go with Russell Westbrook’s sick alley-oop, but since it was already made a top play of the day, I decided go in another direction. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jeff Van Gundy:

Lowlight of the Week

Just a bit off.

About the Author

Born in Los Angeles, but don't remember anything about it since we moved when I was 2. Lived in the Carolinas most of my life, but hated both Duke and UNC due to my mother being a Maryland alum. Favorite NFL team is the Kansas City Chiefs, even though I never spent one second in Kansas City. Big fan of Football and Basketball. Like Baseball when I'm at the game. Same with Hockey. Favorite professional athlete of all time is Glen Rice.